markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. comes a report. just hours before the deadline and the start to a new year it appears the u.s. may avoid a fiscal dive a compromise is still in the works at this hour we'll bring you the latest on these budget debates and ask why everything in washington always seems so last minute twenty twelve is almost coming to an end tonight a look back at some of our most memorable stories at our team will bring you the good the bad and the just plain weird. and it's a horror militaries don't plan for and civilian populations can't avoid future generations suffering from birth defects as a result of wars past that's what you need to know about this haunting trend.

it's monday december thirty first two thousand and twelve four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine and you're watching our team or we going to begin this hour with a look at the latest on the fiscal cliff tonight at midnight is the deadline after all and it even brought the u.s. congress into work yesterday on a sunday as some people have been waiting with bated breath to see just what the terms of the deal will look like it's important to remember at least for the last few years budget deals always come down to the last known moment getting this done before the holidays would have meant lawmakers on both sides would appear to their constituents as desperate and being forced to vote one way or the other now we do want to outline for you the latest details of the deal to avert the fiscal cliff as of now the potential deal could bring six hundred billion dollars in revenue taxes would be increased. by nearly forty percent on individuals earning four hundred

thousand dollars or more and for families earning four hundred fifty thousand dollars the earned income tax credit the child tax credit and the college tax credit would be extended for another five years the estate tax would be raised to forty percent for properties worth more than five million dollars the deal would extend unemployment benefits for another year and finally the capital gains tax would increase from fifteen percent to twenty percent. so what does this really mean i'm joined now by sam sax progressive writer and commentator and also a former capitol hill staffer so sam i know you've been sort of following this throughout the day as i have what do you think are the winners and losers well right now it appears that the winners the same people who've been winning for the last several decades and that's the extremely wealthy people in america i mean right now the whole debate and center around just how many wealthy people are going to get the bush tax cuts and we've seen that the president for about four years has said he's not going to cave on two hundred fifty thousand dollars threshold we saw

him cave about two years ago on that and he appears to be ready to cave on that it did even though there seem to have been a whole election where this was a main issue also you mentioned capital gains and dividends these were these are these are taxes usually paid by the extremely wealthy people in society people like mitt romney and such there that rate was supposed to go up to normal income about thirty nine point six percent it's up fifteen now it's only going to go up to twenty percent so that's another massive tax cut for them nowhere in here do you see anything about carried interest which is another one of those things that warren buffett mitt romney don't pay taxes on that's not even on the table this carried interest loophole nothing on the table about subsidies for oil companies or anything like that so again these are the big winners the losers. the middle class again sure going to have a one year extension of unemployment benefits we'll see what happens in a year than were you know i think it's important to point out what we're talking about right now and sort of what's been leaked what's come out of the talks right now it only has to do with the extent to which taxes will be raised how we haven't yet talked about some of the entitlement spending or you know cuts that will happen

and those are really things that impact the people that need it the most exactly what we're talking about economic effects of of the fiscal cliff the taxes aren't the biggest impact it's going to be spending cuts massive spending cuts because let's face it even though washington is seems seems to have forgotten how we can all mix were work when an economy is depressed when there's not people spending money it's up to the government to come in and invest in the. spend money here and we're talking about contractionary economics we're talking about cutting back spending which is the opposite of what we should be doing and it's the same thing that we're seeing happening in europe here we've seen it happen in spain and greece these massive austerity programs slashing spending and what's happening to their economies they're shrinking they're shrinking they're shrinking another recession another recession and yet we're about to embark on the same exact austerity here in the united states which is just completely mind boggling yeah really really interesting and we did hear just a little while ago from president obama i want to play just a little bit of what he had to say. preventing that tax hike as been my top

priority because the last thing folks like the folks up here on this stage can afford right now is to pay an extra two thousand dollars in taxes next year middle class families can't afford it businesses can't afford it our economy can't afford it today it appears that an agreement to prevent this new year's tax hike is within sight but it's not done there are still issues left to resolve but we're hopeful that congress can get it done but it's not done now as expected he's been criticized by several republicans as often happens here in washington so let's just take a look really quick at what obama's former rival senator john mccain that is i watched other presidents address crises the way that they were able to address them

and resolve them with presidential leadership and that's why we elect presidents to lead they did it by calling the leaders of both parties to the white house and sit around a table and do the negotiations and the discussions and they are sometimes concessions have to be made compromises have to be made. so really i mean john mccain's not the only one talking about compromise and quite a few. people on the hill here quite a few lawmakers talking about not really being happy with what's going on and i think it's important to point out no matter what is decided on there still will be an impact people's taxes will be raised because after that the payroll taxes this is the great sleight of hand going on right now on capitol hill as everybody is saying their biggest perk is not to raise taxes on the middle class while nobody nobody wants to extend the payroll tax cut which has been in place i think two or three four years which is immediately going to be a two percent tax increase on all working americans that's going to go from i think

is four point two back to six point two percent numbers to protect a percentage and that's going to be immediately impact middle class people working people all across the country and that already is you have got a table no it wasn't nobody wanted to fight for it you know you you you would expect progressives in this debate to act like progressives put things like a financial transaction tax something to make wall street pay we've put it on the table so you can protect working class tax cuts down the road that doesn't get on the table so we see working class tax cuts but something with john mccain said there about the president not being a leader i think you know i think he's dead on i think that the president hasn't been a leader in much of these debates and said outsourced a lot of this work to congress and yes it's congress's job to do tax and spending but it's also the president's job to step up and try and lead lead that debate and he hasn't done it and he's given the worst of all of those he said because you know president obama obviously you know as you say he just won the election he has a huge democratic backing and he has people who are really hoping that he's going to step up and as you mentioned he is not so much stepping up doing what his

constituents want him to do he is trying to make a compromise isn't that leading i don't think that's leading i mean that's that's moving as far as you can to the right to try and strike a deal with a with a republican party that's completely lost its touch on reality you think progressives in this country or are just hoping that obama said to two hundred fifty thousand dollars or nothing it's going the cliff is is here i think progressives want him to fight i mean. this congress ten percent approval rating worst congressional approval rating in history they passed forty six bills on abortion one hundred thirteen bills on religion seventy two bills on firearms thirty seven area quite a bit of post office yeah they've got a bunch of post offices and the president wants to defer to these guys to come up with a deal no wonder that this session one hundred twelfth congress the worst most unproductive congress ever is ending with a sort of fiscal cliff drama like it is right now it's so appropriate it's so appropriate and a little bit for me at least a little deja vu i mean as we mentioned this always gets left to the last minute the moment anyone who is surprised by this obviously doesn't see what happens in washington because it's always left to the last moment talk for

a second sam you have not only been covering a congress you've worked on the hell before as a former staffer. this is more of the same it's more of the same for the last few years but it's different you know when things like the debt limit and things like budget bills and appropriations bills these used to be passed fairly easily bipartisan get it through i mean there was fight story in the ninety's with clinton and that's when all this sort of stuff started and now any time is routine bills like debt limit spending appropriations bills republicans are staking out a position on these to demand austerity to demand more spending cuts. and that is really slowing down congress and really slowing down what kind of other legislation like big important legislation it comes to energy and climate change when it comes to gun control which is now in the news where it should be we're not going to get to any of those if every three months we're going to have to have a debate over how much gets how much spending gets cut yes certainly taxes always seem to be a sticking point for both sides that something not not totally new progressive

writer and commentator sam sachs happy new year's eve thanks to me how does now. and since it is new year's eve we'd like to take a few minutes now to take a look back this year has been packed with major news events attempts that big and small change also signs that a new year and a new election signal not change but more of the same our motto here at archie is question more and so we thought it was important to have people on our network that do just that people that challenge the status quo and the system overall people that don't just talk about change but try to achieve it even when the odds are against them this year for the first time ever are to america hosted a presidential debate for third party candidates with green party candidate jill stein and libertarian candidate gary johnson we discuss real issues that affect real people and raised questions that were not raised in the debates between mitt romney and president obama in case you missed it here are some highlights.

these people stand up and may not be counted on november sixth they're counting today and they deserve to be heard county election these everyone coming up shortly in our team america studios here in washington d.c. the final debate before the election so we're just a couple hours away now from the third party debate. governor johnson your opening statement well i think that this country is in big big trouble the american people certainly are at the breaking point i am livid over the fact that we bail out wall street for making incredibly bad decisions we need to change these free trade agreements clearly you see government as being the solution to our problems and i certainly don't promote the government as the solution for everything i see we do have a difference in opinion here do away with the i arose we need to end these wars for

oil for an it is something that should stop climate change is here and it's happening to the united states should have should be the beacon on the hill. now is just oliver jr in canada gary johnson agree party candidate jill stein have the opportunity to go head to head in the second round of third party debates just fight those third party candidates and others like rocky anderson and virgil goode it appears the u.s. is still very much locked in a two party system now like the other networks we hosted several hours of election night coverage and we tried our best to bring you something different we took a look at how the two parties might not be so different after all. to a lot of americans there just isn't much of

a difference between two parties anymore and. you're ok you're already ahead of all the other corporate news outlets to call the winners there's a large presidential election ladies and gentlemen our next president of united states is going to be obama. all right so we know president obama won reelection but the point is that the two parties resemble each other in so many ways so what will really come out of an obama second term and how will he define himself as a leader we'll just have to wait and see. and as we see so often politics extends well beyond the walls of washington sometimes reaching as far as the other side of the country to hollywood this election season are to america attended both the republican and democratic national conventions and witnessed firsthand the star power both parties brought out to beef up support and excitement surrounding their ticket argy correspondent liz wahl was at the democratic convention and hit the red

carpet to speak to some of the biggest names in hollywood about their role in the political process. the red carpet rolled out the swarm of media awaits the arrival of the stars fresh out of the democratic national convention we just left president clinton's speech which was electrifying in and rallying the really energized everybody in that arena the event called got your six is a hollywood back campaign aimed at raising awareness for veterans and military families the performer of the night grammy nominated hip hop artist flow right up. dancers. also gracing the red carpet retired general wesley clark to water great speeches. and of course preserve. the park there were darn well the democratic national convention wouldn't be complete without red carpet events and celebrities let's take a look at what happens when the speeches and and the party we get the rock obama.

i've been traveling around the country speaking of americans i don't know what's important to them and how to keep moving this country forward. showing off his patriotism flow right and his dancers energize the crowd is not an american flag inspired ensemble. is it this is. the music pumping in the drinks flowing it's time for v.i.p.'s attendees straight out of the democratic national convention to let loose the democratic party typically the one with hollywood star power standing behind it how do celebrities impact politics i don't think celebrities impact politics i think americans and citizens impact politics and says being an actress is is what i do but who i am as an american who i am as a woman who i am is expanding i think celebrities can speak up for causes and this is right here we've got celebrities who are coming out for better or flo ride i

wouldn't disclose who has voted before but has this message. we do have the freedom to board a boat and you know i'll just look for suborning boat and keep going everyone else to board a boat as well. and charlotte north carolina lives while i sleep. so i had here on r.g.p. over a decade after the iraq war began civilians are still feeling the impact now a new face to the remnants of war i'm growing number of babies with birth defects that story is next. and.

says let me let me i want to let me ask you a point. here. is what we have in the bank we have our nights out. this right up the bank thing never get here in the story will be i don't want me to talk about theory let me.

worst she goes to. my house of a. minute. i wonder. if you ever think. well it was december of last year that the war in iraq came to an official and but the footprint the u.s. has left on the country could last for decades for starters there's the thousands of americans remaining in iraq stationed at the multi-billion dollar compound also known as the baghdad embassy there is also the change the life style for the iraqi people themselves including a significant rise in miscarriages and also in birth defects and babies a study released a few months ago found that the past several years have shown that the number of

babies born with major of birth defects increased by more than sixty percent and forty five percent of pregnancies in the cities studied and did in miscarriage r.t. correspondent liz walt takes a deeper look. a new study takes a look at birth defects in two of the hardest hit cities during the iraq war including fallujah and central iraq and bars around the southeastern region of the country the study from the bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology takes a close look at birth defects at hospitals in these cities over the span of a decade and the findings are disturbing to say the least this chart takes a look at the percentage of birth defects for patients at volusia general hospital between one thousand nine hundred one and two thousand and ten as you can see birth defects skyrocketed between two thousand and four and two thousand and six it was in april of two thousand and four the u.s. marines first bombarded the city and as time goes on the number of babies being born with congenital defects continues to rise significantly and according to the

study between two thousand and seven and two thousand and ten nearly sixty percent of all babies recorded had birth defects and it looks like there is a link between the time military assault began and the number of babies that are miscarried at during this time that the number of miscarriage miscarriages rises drastically forty five percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage and the scientists also todd harris ambles from children with birth defects and fifty six flu shot families and what they found is that the toxic chemicals of mercury and lead were found to be five times higher in these children and the effects are devastating your looking at babies born with severe birth defects and the flu should general hospital but we may and august two thousand and ten the most common abnormalities include congenital heart defects neural tube defects and facial cleft dating now this study is just one of many that links military assaults the prevalence of birth

defects toxic metals like mercury lead and depleted uranium are used in bullets and bombs and pregnant mothers and their unborn babies are especially prone to toxic chemicals and pollution and during the u.s. army's three week bond bar. a mint of illusion marines use hellfire missiles and two thousand pound bombs in addition to what the pentagon classifies as chemical weapons these are tanks loaded with the pleated uranium and phosphorus volumes white phosphorus was the same weapon saddam hussein used against the kurds in february of one thousand nine hundred one one of the many reasons the united states used to justify their invasion of iraq so what does that apartment defense have to say about this a spokesperson told r.t. quote we are not aware of any official reports indicating an increase in birth defects that albums are or fallujah that may be related to exposure to the metals contained in munitions used by the u.s. or coalition partners we always take very seriously public health concerns about

any population now living in a combat theater unexploded ordinance including improvised explosive devices are a recognized hazard in other words at this point the pentagon doesn't see lead mercury or depleted uranium as recognize hazards in about a month the world health organization organization is set to release its long awaited study on the lingering health effects in iraq and it's expected they're finding will make the same link that exposure to toxic medical metals excuse me a result of repeated bombings has not just ravaged the country cities but it's future generations bodies as well in washington little r.t. and here at r g twenty twelve brought us an exciting addition to our programming lineup breaking the set with host abby martin kicked off with the major headlines and a trending hash tag thanks so much for tuning in to the brand new show that i've been working here for hard all month to bring you i'm your host of the martin and this is breaking the set.

you know when we started to come back to the point. we have a big computers be published that everybody's here for up to right you know i'm very pleased to be joined by producer director oliver stone so if there's one thing i can say to some of the last six months of nonstop election build up this for media candidate corporatocracy i can't wait for this. to be over but now that i got out of the way to go over to the biggest issues that barely gotten covered in the corporate. drone obama is officially the drone we think live. or die die die isn't dead already i don't know kill him anyway i didn't have the physically drunk

a killing people with unmanned drones the smart way to fight terror brave he's ramped up the use of these unmanned killer robots drum magically taken off i like to call president obama the drone cyrene you like so far there are youtube channel youtube dot coms like breaking that. protect our facebook page facebook dot com plus breaking the law that if you're wondering about what i'm doing when i'm not on air follow me on twitter at abby martin. while we are well into the holiday season that means a lot of people have been leaving town for a few days of our in our but it turns out if you're beautiful you can travel for free and the website matches attractive people that want to travel with wealthy suitors i want to travel with attractive people some people call it a win win others call it sleazy parties on a saucy a chore going to shows you how if you're beautiful a free dream vacation could be a couple clicks away. there are many places to see so what are you waiting for

a few bucks tight to take a dream vacation well now all you need is looks and off you jet with the help of this new dating website. well. girls who would look for somebody attractor beautiful people who want to travel for free we set up an account to see the chances of actually being offered a free trip and name a bit of a description and not even a profile photo and here is an invite to go to england for a week with a so-called generous user name tall one or the site has tens of thousands of members adventurous and full of other appealing traits ready to see it all singles of all ages and even smells bankers athletes executives one side pays they have the money and they're willing to spend it on you the other goes on a free ride the idea that people who are quote unquote beautiful should enjoy economic advantages over people who are not is disgusting on its face it's

a smidge different from prostitution the site's founder begs to differ a little money is over exchanged and again we're very strict about making sure escorts are not allowed to match this trouble sybil has already gone on her first trip through the site and now it's totally not taboo to be on any online dating site i think this one's this really really cool i went to call the event to make society up to this woman it's all about bringing back courtship fast and i still believe that guy should spoil you especially when they're trying to impress you single frequent flyer ken is on the other side of the game willing to impress i don't know if it's about being lonely i think it's it's probably an easier way to meet someone who wants to travel than walking down the street and starting asking you know. kim is willing to cover some but not all of the costs so they find the right person for subsidizing it would probably not paying for the whole thing critics dubbed this new dating option sexist classist and tasteless we need

a constitutional amendment that says some things are just gross there should be a cabinet level ministry of the keenness with no such ministry in sight the service claims it's actually a win win for all you have to remember there's one of your predecessors once in awhile. or with endless pages of princesses awaiting pampering wealthy magical knights can pick and choose who they will rescue next and if they are new york. well everyone we have breaking news to bring to you i know earlier in the show we sort of talked about how the fiscal cliff vote was near will guess what there are some changes that happen in the last few minutes it turns out the house will not vote tonight on any budget negotiations and this could very much mean that we will indeed go over the so-called fiscal cliff again the house will not be taking a vote tonight a whole lot in that deal that still had not been worked out not sure exactly why

though here at four thirty in the afternoon i hear eastern time that they just decided to call it quits and not have a vote we are going to stay on this story and we're going to have an update for you on what this all means tonight at five pm. thanks so much for watching. his easy.

going. i've. a.